Henry James Meller

“ What though there be those, who, in the whim, caprice or ignorance of thy merits, would run ye down in the plenitude of their prejudices—have ye not stood the test of time, that criterion of excellence? Are ye not, most sublime of pleasures, independent of your other numerous claims upon public and private favour—are ye not immortalized by the hallowed names of the great, the good, the wise, the witty and the learned, whose encomiums of your worth shall descend with you, through the future ages of unborn posterity. ”

“ Lowering our Pegasus a peg or two from the loftier flights of conception, we will proceed more immediately to analyze the merits of these legitimate offsprings of the parent plant, smoking and snuff-taking; first of all, however, having recourse to a pinch of Welsh, to clear our head for so arduous an undertaking. That smoking and snuff-taking have, as habits pernicious to the health, been attacked repeatedly by the heads of science, is no less true than that they have escaped each intended flagellation, and thrived under the fostering lip and nose of a discerning public. ”

“ Pipes.—In reference to these essentials to smoking tobacco, a great variety of tastes are displayed, while that of each country forms an amusing contrast to that of its neighbour. In the Eastern portion of the globe, the gorgeous hookah or superb chibouque with their serpent train are caressed: in France, the short twisted pipe: in Germany, the merschaum: in Holland, the long slender black pipe: in America, the short red clay pipe, or the ingeniously manufactured, yet murderous tomahawk, bears the tube of comfort; while in England—happy England—all, or any of these, are attainable. ”

“ When we reflect but for a moment, if he succeeded by the powerful and charitable arguments he uses, the national wealth, powers, and consequences of the kingdom would be undermined. For what, we say, were Englishmen without tobacco?—no more than a Turk without his opium, a Frenchman without his snuff, or any man without an agreeable stimulant to the mind. ”

“ Sir Isaac Newton.—This illustrious individual was remarkable for smoking and temporary fits of mental abstraction from all around him; frequently being seized with them in the midst of company. Upon one occasion, it is related of him, that a young lady presenting her hand for something across the table, he seized her finger, and, quite unconsciously, commenced applying it as a tobacco-stopper, until awoke to a sense of his enormity by the screams of the fair one. ”

“ A man wishing to be silent, in meditation finds the pipe his excuser. A man in anger with himself, his family, or the public, the pipe or the pinch will generally restore to kindness. A man desirous of meeting a friend, need but give him a “pinch,” and the heart is at once opened to his reception. A man in misfortune, either in sickness or in circumstances, will learn philosophy from the pipe, and [Pg xii] count upon the latter, at least, as his own: in this case, from both tobacco and snuff, he borrows an independent vigour, and a cheerfulness that shines even in the sadness of his heart. ”

“ Smoking that is affirmed to be revolting and disgusting, is indulged in by the most rigidly kept women in the world—those of Turkey, who elevated in the dignity of the Haram, are taught to consider a whiff of their lord’s chibouque a distinction. Then the ladies of both Old and New Spain, who twining in the mazes of the giddy waltz, take the cigarros from their own pretty lips to transfer to those of their favoured partners. ”

“ Without them, indeed—with such a true knowledge of life are they introduced—the stories would lose half their force, and nearly all their effect. How naturally do we associate with a smoker, a blandness and evenness of voice and gesture, which we can by no means ascribe to men in common. The same almost in regard to the snuff-box: the mind seems to acquire a polish and fire at its very sight. Nay, absolutely such is our profound respect for the sympathising herb, that even the quids of poor Lieutenant Bowling [15] himself would appear venerable in our eyes were they but in existence. ”

“ Now the truly immense extent of the benefits Europe is indebted to for the introduction of the tobacco-plant, is by no means generally known. For the instruction of our fellow creatures—we say instruction, because probably our numerous readers may never have met with them before,—we shall proceed to enlighten the world upon the subject. If we look backward to the earlier periods of History, what barbarous and savage manners do we not mark characterizing the people and the times. ”

“ The pipe and the box give a vigour to the mind, and a language to its ideas. They give harmony a tone, and discord a silence. They inspire the bold, and encourage the diffident. Yes! through their agency alone, all these benefits are received and experienced. In short, they express in one breath, superlative happiness. A few illustrations will suffice:
A man in public company wishing to give utterance to some particular opinion or sentiment, invariably finds the pipe or the pinch the best prompter. ”

“ Then, by way of conclusion, like a crier of last dying speeches, comes to be related the death of some very promising young man, who, through the frequent habit of smoking, which he practised against the continued advice of the grave Monitor—made his exit in a consumption. So if a man habituated to the pleasures of a pipe goes off in a consumption, the anti-smokers must immediately assert it was brought on by the use of tobacco. ”

“ Now, to what, we should like to know, are to be attributed the mighty and successful efforts of these wonderful men, who may justly be considered the founders of modern civilization and literature, but the all—the far pervading fumes of the sovereign tobacco-leaf they worshipped with such devotion. To its exhilarating influence and invigorating aid, exciting the [Pg 73] imagination to realms of undiscovered beauties, are we indebted for those works that shall live, while time is,—the wonder of this and all future ages. ”

“ Now, nothing is more common in metaphysics, than to know that when a fancy or love is not returned by the object of affection, it generally turns into as great a hatred. Nothing, therefore, is more easily exemplified than the violence of the dislike expressed by this order of ‘tobacco’s foemen.’ Although the efforts of the above, with the exception of an occasional treatise against the pernicious effects of tobacco from the medical department, are confined to oral discussion of the subject; the genial herb has enemies of a more aspiring and determined cast. ”

“ Doubtless, like many other great writers, who open out a new light to the world, we shall have enough of sceptics, as opponents, to contend with; but we are sanguine from the facts we shall clearly establish, that far more is to be attributed to the powers of tobacco, than millions dream of. ”

“ As tobacco is an annual plant, those who intend to cultivate it ought to be as careful as possible in the choice of the seeds; in which, however, with all their care, they may sometimes be deceived. The seed should be sown in the middle of April, or rather sooner in a forward season, in a bed prepared for this purpose, of such soil that has been already described, mixed with some warm rich manure. In a cold spring, hot beds are most eligible for that purpose ”

“ That the habits of snuffing, and smoking, are not beneficial to the human constitution, has been asserted as a fact by many savans, and more powerfully defended by others. Probably, after all, the most singular thing in favour of these habits is, that the practice of them, which should perfect our knowledge, advocates so strongly their use as agreeable stimulants, promoting cheerfulness, and mild and gentle in their operation when not adopted to too great an extent. ”

“ A dreadful disease, first brought from America by the last return of Columbus, raged about this period with a fearful and unchecked virulency in Spain, committing dreadful devastations on the human frame, and finally ending in the most horrible death imagination could picture. ”

“ In the first place, it is too well known to admit of much doubt, that tobacco, whether smoked or taken as snuff, exercises a very considerable power upon the mind, more especially when taken in considerable quantities. When such is the case, the faculties are refined and exalted to a degree of spirited buoyancy, that forms a strange and pleasing contrast to the usual unstimulated lethargic state of the mind. We can only compare it, though in a much milder, and more inoffensive degree, to the [Pg 71] species of delirium the Turks so vividly describe, when labouring under the effects of opium. ”

“ Go seek the man, whether topman, afterguard, or idler, who has ever been upon a seven or three years’ station, and ask him whence his chief consolation in the watch of safety, or peril, and he, if a true sailor, shall answer with an indescribable roll of the jaw—“Pigtail!!!” ’Tis the essence, in fact, the very quintessence of the man, and its consideration in his mind may be sufficiently gleaned from the following well-known epistle—at once an irrefutable proof, if any be needed. ”

“ If we turn to the imagination, how many endearing recollections connected with our subject throng upon us, even from the once happy days of our boyhood, when in secret we pored over the pages of genius in preference to scholastic lore. ”

“ None, perhaps, more than smoking and snuff-taking, the propriety of which, in the upper orders of life, have been and are, whether as regards their social or medicinal qualities, so frequently called in question by their enemies. ”

“ The ladies of England designate smoking and snuffing, filthy and dirty habits. If you chance, dear reader, to ask why—because—because—they are vile and dirty habits, and thereby—‘hangs a tale.’ Then, as a matter of course, comes to be cited a list of the most gentlemanly men, young and old, who are never guilty of committing the sin. ”

“ The Turks, notwithstanding their own excellent growth of the plant, give very high prices to possess it; especially that which comes from, Shiraz. This is accounted the best. The moslems are also much in the habit of smoking a composition of opium and rose leaves with their tobacco through scented waters. A similar practice is common in India among the higher class; the same materials are made into a thick consistency and rolled into balls, which they term Jugeny. To the unpractised palate, the smoking of this composition has a strangely exhilarating and intoxicating effect. ”

“ Ne voyez-vous pas bien, dès qu’on en prend, de quelle manière obligeante on en use avec tout le monde, et comme on est ravi d’en donner à droit et à gauche, par tout où l’on se trouve? On n’attend pas même que l’on en demande, et l’on court au devant du souhait des gens; tant il est vrai que le tabac inspire des sentimens d’honneur et de vertu à tous ceux qui en prennent. ”

“ He was a smoker.
Then, to sketch forth the gigantic march of intellect, in the ages of which we write, came forth those luminaries of the world; Hobbes, the [Pg 72] parent of Locke’s philosophy, the profound philosopher Lord Bacon, the most illustrious mathematician and philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, and the singularly talented metaphysician Locke, each and all of whom were celebrated for their devotion to the soothing and stimulating powers of a pipe! ”

“ Tobaccos.—An idea prevails among young smokers, that tobacco, independent of its fancied vulgarity, is always much stronger than cigars; an error that is very common. Like cigars, indeed, it is of various growth and quality, and like them, may be had weak, or strong. The smoker, if he desires it, can have tobacco as weak as the mildest Havanahs. The only difference in their manufacture is, the leaf is cut into shreds to form the one, and wrapt up to form the other. The Persian, Turkish, and Maryland tobacco, are the mildest. The shag and twists, the strongest ”

“ Taken thus, perhaps, nothing harmonizes with smoking so well on the palate; as the [Pg 118] Rev. Dr. Walsh says, in his Travels in Turkey, speaking of tobacco, and in whose judicious remarks we cannot but concur, “I do not wonder at the general use of this most indispensable of Turkish luxuries; it is always the companion of coffee (mocha) , and there is something so exceedingly congenial in the properties of both, that nature seems to have intended them for inseparable associates. We do not know how to use tobacco in this country, but defile and deteriorate it with malt liquor. ”